Over 10 years in the making and Cochrane will be getting a much-needed permanent… parking lot?
With Cochrane High School, Elizabeth Barrett Elementary and the Cochrane Arena sharing an awkward, dusty, mucky, pothole-filled gravel parking lot for longer than anyone wanted, Rocky View Schools has stepped up to the plate with a solution.
Rocky View Schools has been hoping to get a start on this project for the last 10 years, but “we’ve now been able to progress it and believe we have the sources of funding to be able to undertake it,” said Darrell Couture, associate superintendent of business and operations for Rocky View Schools.
“That parking lot as is, is a mud bowl in the spring and in the winter it’s hard to keep clear of snow.
“So for the last couple of years, we’ve been working on preliminary designs and this last year we thought perhaps we’d get the project undertaken this summer (2013), but it just wasn’t possible,” he said, based on the amount of work that goes into a project of this magnitude (worth more than $500,000).
Couture confirmed the project’s budget is roughly $700,000 and would not only include more parking spots, complete with identifying numbers for student passes, but also an additional bus loop to allow for safer drop off and pick up of students.
“We believe it will separate bus traffic from student parking and create a separate space for student drop off,” said Couture. “We hope to enhance the front of Cochrane High as well as the parking for staff.”
A proposal has been brought to the Town of Cochrane council by Rocky View Schools, which would see a sizable permanent-paved parking lot, complete with lighting and drainage, built on the land where the current parking lot sits.
